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Is West Palm’s waterfront living up to its potential?

If you were at SunFest this weekend, you would have witnessed a packed waterfront. The numbers aren’t out yet, but it could very well have been SunFest’s best showing yet.

But at Monday’s commission workshop, Mayor Jeri Muoio took offense to a report over the weekend saying West Palm’s waterfront is otherwise underutilized. Mary Pinak, the city’s special events coordinator, said on Monday that the waterfront is being used for some sort of happening 250 days a year.

“There are only 365 days in a year,” said a smiling Muoio.

Yet this it the same city that paid a consultant from Chicago’s Millennium Park $25,000 to study the waterfront. Those very consultants say the waterfront is underutilized, arguing that the wide open green space is unused when there aren’t pre-programmed events. They’ve talked about drastic measures to get people to the waterfront, including turning it into an entertainment park with gardens and hot air balloon rides. They’ve even talked about eliminating the open space and then moving SunFest to Currie Park or the South Florida Fairgrounds. If this weekend was any indication, with concertgoers shifting back and forth from the festival to Clematis Street, that likely wouldn’t go over well with SunFest, business owners or the public.

So what do you think? Is the waterfront underutilized as the city’s consultant says, or is it living up to its potential, as Muoio says?